CHARLES RICHARD DE BUTRÉ: PIONEER OF MATHEMATICAL ECONOMICS

Historians of economics have acknowledged the significant role François Quesnay and the Physiocrats played in the early development of mathematical economics. It is, however, important to note that although the Tableau économique could well be translated into algebra, Quesnay never did it. As part o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the History of Economic Thought 2016-09, Vol.38 (3), p.311-327
Main Authors: Charles, Loïc, Théré, Christine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
18th century
Algebra
Didacticism
Economic history
Economic theory
Economics
Economics and Finance
Equilibrium
Geometry
Historians
History of ideas
History, Philosophy and Sociology of Sciences
Humanities and Social Sciences
Mathematical analysis
Mathematical models
Mathematics
Philosophy
Political economy
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Historians of economics have acknowledged the significant role François Quesnay and the Physiocrats played in the early development of mathematical economics. It is, however, important to note that although the Tableau économique could well be translated into algebra, Quesnay never did it. As part of our research on Charles Richard de Butré, an obscure collaborator of François Quesnay, we have uncovered documents that show that he was one Physiocrat who did use algebra to explain his theoretical conceptions. In two texts written at the end of 1766 and the beginning of 1767, Butré systematically used algebra as an aid for economic reasoning. Our argument is that these texts provide very interesting insights into the development of early mathematical economics.
ISSN:1053-8372
0142-7716
1469-9656
DOI:10.1017/S1053837216000353